What We Learned From The Comey Testimony
Former FBI Director James Comey provided his testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. We learned several important new things from Comey’s testimony.
Comey’s testimony revealed details about his private encounters with Donald Trump including being pressured to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn.
But probably the biggest revelation was Comey’s statement that he was fired because of the Russia investigation.
Here are the seven things we learned from the Comey testimony today:
1. James Comey thinks Donald Trump is a liar
James Comey made clear early in his testimony that he considers Donald Trump to be a liar.
“The administration…chose to defame me and more important the FBI,” Comey said. “Those were lies, plain and simple.”
“I was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our meeting and I thought it important to document.”
Comey said that he wrote memos about each encounter with Donald Trump because he was concerned that Trump would lie about them. Comey made clear that he never had that concern about the two previous Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
2. Other senior FBI officials were just as concerned as Comey about Trump’s behavior
Comey testified that his other senior FBI colleagues were as troubled as he was by Donald Trump’s behavior. “I think they were as shocked and troubled by it as I was,” Comey said. “They’re all experienced people. They’ve never experienced such a thing.”
3. Comey leaked his memos because of Trump’s tapes tweet
James Comey said he asked a good friend of his, a professor at Columbia Law School who he didn’t name, to give it to the reporter (Michael Schmidt at the New York Times.)
Comey said he leaked this out because he read about Trump’s tweeting about the “tapes” of his conversation, and he hoped that it might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.
Reporter Peter Baker noted on Twitter: “Can’t remember the last time someone in DC openly acknowledged orchestrating a leak — and without any senator having even asked.”
4. Donald Trump not concerned about Russia’s attack on the United States
Comey testified that Donald Trump never asked him about Russia’s election interference or showed concern for Russia’s ongoing interference.
5. Comey thinks Trump was trying to interfere and coerce him
When asked why he thought Trump wanted from one of their meetings Comey said, “My common sense told me that he’s looking to get something in exchange for my request to stay in the job.”
And at another point, referring to Trump pressing him to drop the Flynn investigation, Comey asked, “Why would you kick everyone out of the Oval Office?”
6. Comey made clear that he thinks he was fired because of the Russia investigation
During his testimony, Comey was asked on Thursday why he was fired. The former FBI director said he had a pretty good idea based on the president’s own words.
“I guess I don’t know for sure,” he said. “I take the president at his word that I was fired because of the Russia investigation.”
Comey said that he came to that conclusion after watching Donald Trump’s interview with NBC News and from reading press accounts about why the president fired him.
7. Jeff Sessions is likely in more trouble than previously thought
James Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that the FBI was aware of classified information that led bureau leadership to conclude Attorney General Jeff Sessions shouldn’t have been involved in Russia-related investigations even before his recusal.
Senator Ron Wyden asked Comey, “In your statement, you said that you and the FBI leadership team decided not to discuss the president’s actions with Attorney General Sessions even though he had not recused himself. What was it about the attorney general’s own interactions with the Russians or his behavior with regard to the investigation that would have led the entire leadership of the FBI to make this decision?”
In response to Wyden’s question, Comey said, “Our judgment, as I recall, was that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons. We also were aware of facts that I can’t discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic.”
And why Wyden asked about Sessions violating his recusal on the Russia case Comey replied by saying, “That’s a question I can’t answer,” Comey replied. “I think it’s a reasonable question. If the president has said I was fired because of the Russia investigation, why was the attorney general involved in that chain? I don’t know.”
[image via screengrab]
